LABOUR MEPs have been slated for trying to block plans to control dangerous chemicals.

LABOUR MEPs have been slated for trying to block plans to control dangerous chemicals.

It is feared the chemical policy White Paper proposals could place the future of Runcorn's Ineos plant in jeopardy.

The European Commission is expected to produce draft legislation next year to establish a public record of substances.

This is in response to fears common household products could contain chemicals which can contribute to the causes of cancer, asthma or skin allergies.

Experts also believe some substances have led to the contamination of breast milk in nursing mothers.

But Labour MEPs believe excessive red tape generated by the legislation could cost up to 2,000 jobs at Ineos and cripple the local economy.

The plant produces 80% of the UK's caustic soda and chlorine, which is used in a wide variety of plastics and pharmaceuticals. Labour MEPs believe these products could be driven off the market by the proposed law changes.

But the MEPs, led by North West representative Brian Simpson, have angered colleagues and environmentalists by defying the socialist whip in the European Parliament in a bid to vote down the plans.

The proposed moves had already been agreed by environment ministers, including Britain's Michael Meacher, and accepted by the MEPs' representatives in committee negotiations.

The planned controls would have required the chemicals industry to investigate the safety of chemicals which build up in breast milk and body fat before being put on the market.

Danish MEP Torben Lund described the British MEPs' vote as a 'disaster for the environment'.

Elizabeth Salter-Green, director of the Worldwide Fund for Nature's European Toxins programme, said: 'Labour MEPs have not done their job in protecting the citizens and the environment. I cannot believe that they have voted against these chemicals being better controlled so that the children I hope to have will have the best possible start in life.'